Advertising Expert Witnesses: 6

Dr. Thomas Maronick has provided both plaintiff and defense litigators with marketing and consumer expertise for over 25 years. Prior to that he was the in-house marketing expert at the FTC. Since leaving the FTC in 1997, Dr. Maronick has been qualified as an expert in numerous federal and state courts, providing expert reports, affidavits, and testimony on marketing, advertising, and consumer behavior matters. 

Dr. Maronick has designed and implemented over 300 consumer surveys for litigation and/or policy related strategies, using virtually every survey research methodology, including mall-intercept studies, telephone and mail surveys, and studies using the internet and consumer mail panels. Dr. Maronick has testified (deposition/trial) over 75 times in the past five years and is the author of research of the use of surveys in litigation. 

Areas of Expertise:

• False and Deceptive Advertising
• Deceptive Marketing Practices
• Consumer/Advertising Survey Research
• Packaging
• Trademark/Tradedress

Jason McDonald, PhD, is a expert witness, who specializes in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media Marketing, and Google Ads (AdWords) and has been retained by clients all over the world. His primary focus for his expert witness work is on digital marketing and online advertising, both organic and paid. 

Background Experience - With a BA from Harvard and a PhD from Berkeley, Dr. McDonald began working at a number of San Francisco Bay Area start ups, ranging from Omnibus, Computer Currents, and MW Media. He also wrote freelance for many years with articles appearing in trade journals and press such as EE Times, Dr. Dobb’s, and Software Development Forum. In 1995, he left MW Media and was one of the co-founders of eg3.com. 

Today, Dr. McDonald is Senior Editor for content at eg3.com and is responsible for website coverage (keywords), the monthly newsletter, and the series of Insiders’ Guides on topics from RTOS to FPGAs. He also is the Senior SEO Director at the JM Internet Group. The author of the best-selling SEO  Workbook, Google Ads, and Social Media Marketing Workbooks on Amazon, Dr. McDonald currently teaches at Stanford University Continuing Studies and has taught at the Bay Area Video Academy (BAVC), and AcademyX in San Francisco, California. 

Litigation Support - Dr. McDonald is certified in both California state court and Federal court to testify as an SEO, Social Media Marketing, and Google Ads (AdWords) expert witness. His cases have involved trademark, advertising, and other internet-related issues. With deposition and trial testimony experience, his services are available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defendant.

• SEO Areas of Expertise: Goal Assessment, Keywords, On Page Optimization, Off Page Optimization, Metrics, Rank
• Google Ads (AdWords) Expertise - AdWords Assessment, Keyword Match Types, Search Network vs. Display Network, Conversions and eCommerce, Metrics, Beyond AdWords
• Social Media Expertise - Facebook litigation, Twitter litigation, LinkedIn litigation or any litigation involving social media marketing

View Dr. McDonald's Consulting Profile.

Internet Expert Witness: Peter Kent is the author of "Search Engine Optimization for Dummies," "Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing for Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's Guide to the Internet." He has been online since 1984 and envolved with online marketing since 1990. Mr. Kent has worked as the Vice President of Marketing for a Web-applications development firm. He was also the Vice President of Web Solutions for a national ISP and the founder of a VC-funded e-business service provider. He has a wide range of Online-Marketing experience in many different industries.

Specialties Include:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Search Engine "Linking" Campaigns
• PPC (Pay Per Click Advertising)
• Web Hosting
• Web Design
• Web Application Development,
• E-Commerce Site Development
• Web Project Management
• Affiliate Marketing
• Improving Online "Conversions"
• E-Mail Publishing
• Online PR
• "Community" Marketing

Retained by More Than 120 Law Firms | Expertise You Need + Experience You Want

"I very strongly recommend Rhonda. She’s great to work with, and her work product is absolutely top-shelf." Greenberg & Traurig, LLP

Trademark and Trade Dress Infringement | Surveys | Misleading and Deceptive Advertising | Licensing | Commercial Reasonableness | Merchandising

Founded in 2005, Harper Litigation Consulting and Research has been trusted by more than 120 law firms. Ms. Rhonda Harper is a courtroom proven expert witness, having provided expertise in virtually every circuit, along with JAMS, TTAB, PTO, and FTC. She has also provided testimony for both the prosecution and defense in federal and state criminal trials for offenses ranging from fraud to murder. As a former Fortune 100 chief marketing officer and an adjunct marketing professor, she is uniquely court-qualified in many areas, including intellectual property infringement surveys, misleading and fraudulent advertising, licensing, defamation, and commercial reasonableness. Ms. Harper is routinely retained to formulate expert surveys, conduct rebuttal critiques, or construct rebuttal surveys to show the potential difference in results with properly designed and executed surveys.

Professional Experience

• CMO and VP Marketing, Walmart Sam's Club
• CMO and VP Marketing, VF Corporation VFI
• SVP and GM, Ketchum Communications
• Global Director, Marketing Communications, UPS
• Marketing Promotion Director, Nabisco Biscuit Division

Professional Affiliations

• Board of Directors, Speaker, Brand Activation Association
• Board of Directors, Speaker, Insights Association
• Member, International Trademark Association
• Member, Data and Marketing Association
• Member, Speaker, American Marketing Association
• Member, Speaker, Institute of International Research
• Member, American Association for Public Opinion Research
• Member, Speaker, PR Society of America

Michael T. Motley, Ph.D. has over thirty-five years of experience in the fields of Communication & Psycholinguistics. Dr. Motley serves as an expert witness for opinions on the  clarity, lack of clarity, and most likely interpretation of common messages such as  warning labels, instructions, advertising, contracts, waivers, and so forth. He has served on over 30 cases; about 2/3 for plaintiff and 1/3 for defense. Dr. Motley is a Professor Emeritus of Communication at the University of California at Davis. He has authored almost 200 books, articles, and research papers in communication and psycholinguistics. He has won eighteen excellence awards for his research and was recognized as among the "Top 1%" of communication scholars of the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. Areas of Expertise:

• Communication Messages: Meaning, Ambiguity, Likely and Alternate Interpretations, Communicative Intention
• Adequacy/Inadequacy of Messages: Product Warnings, Instructions, Waivers, Advertisements
• Male / Female Misunderstandings: Sexual Consent/Resistance, Date Rape

Services Offered:

• Expert testimony & Consultation
• Opinion on Adequacy of Communication Messages
• Opinion on Likely Consumer Interpretation of Warnings, Instructions, Advertising
• Opinion on Likely Intrepretation of Sexual Resistance/Consent Messages and Behaviors
• Social-scientific testing of expert opinion (his and others')

View Consulting Profile.

Dr. Larry Chiagouris has a rare combination serving as a senior Fortune 500 executive and as an accomplished academician. He has provided expert testimony and written opinions on damages, marketing, advertising, intellectual property issues (including the use of survey research) for plaintiffs & defendants at major national & local firms.

Experience summary:

• Experience evenly divided between plaintiff and defendant engagements over 25 cases

• Several cases include elements of intellectual property issues

• Majority of cases involve elements of consumer behavior or survey research

• Majority of cases involve elements of advertising related strategies and tactics

• Majority of cases involve elements of Internet related tactics

• Majority of cases involve written opinions and depositions

• Written and oral testimony in several Federal District Court jurisdictions

• Engaged by both large multinational law firms and small boutique firms

• Class action cases evenly divided between plaintiffs and defendants

Selected by Agency Magazine as one of 10 best and brightest researchers. He brings extensive experience as a Senior Marketing, Branding and Research Executive responsible for directing major assignments for companies such as AT&T, Campbell Soup, Kraft, Miller Brewing, Peugeot, Pfizer, Prudential and Visa.

He has a Ph.D. in Marketing, is Past Chairman, Advertising Research Foundation and Former Director of the American Marketing Association.